Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged horse-trading against Tamil Nadu minister N Anand (Representative Image)The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea seeking a CBI probe into “horse-trading” charges against Tamil Nadu minister N Anand of the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and four AIADMK MLAs who had resigned from the House and joined the TVK.“We are not inclined to entertain this writ petition. The same is, accordingly, dismissed with liberty to the petitioner to avail appropriate remedy in accordance with law,” a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said.Six AIADMK legislators had resigned from the Assembly and joined the ruling TVK. S Jayakumar, Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama, elected from Perundurai, Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies, respectively, resigned as members on May 25, 2026.Esakki Subaya, elected from the Ambasamudram constituency, resigned the following day. C Vijayabhaskar (Viralimalai) and M R Vijayabhaskar (Karur) resigned on June 16 and 29, respectively.All of them had been elected on AIADMK tickets in the April Tamil Nadu assembly polls.The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, was hearing a petition by N Srinivasan, an advocate, who alleged that the “acts” of Anand and the MLAs — K Maragatham Kumaravel, S Jayakumar, P Sathyabama and E Subaya — “are not only corrupt practice but against the mandate of the crores of innocent and responsible citizens”.The plea filed through Advocate Achintya Tiwari said the MLAs “had submitted their resignation on 25.05.2026 to the…Assembly Speaker and immediately within half an hour they joined the TVK … in front of Tamil Nadu minister Aadhav Arjuna, specifically in the Tamil Nadu secretariat itself”.Story continues below this adThe petitioner contended that if the MLAs had any “personal reasons or difference of opinion with the party after the election, they should have resigned before voting in favour of TVK during the floor test or they should have abstained from voting against the whip in the floor test. Instead of that, they actively and consciously voted in fear of TVK and immediately resigned as MLAs, and they immediately joined…TVK”.The plea urged the SC to exercise powers under Article 142 of the Constitution “to frame specific rules for preventing who is trading after elections with regard to the candidates either resigned or disqualified by the Assembly Speaker till the Parliament either makes the law or rules in this regard”.It alleged that resignation by the MLAs “amounts to fraud committed on the Constitution…therefore they become eligible to contest election/ by election again”.During the hearing, when it was pointed out to the bench that an FIR had already been registered on the matter, the bench said: “Then let the FIR be investigated. Law will take its own course.”